Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 30, 2026

Detection of Exosomal Biomarker by Electric Field-induced Release and Measurement EFIRM
Published on: January 23, 2015
Clinical significance of exosomes as potential biomarkers in cancer
Chi-Hin Wong1, Yang-Chao Chen1
1School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Background:
Exosomes are microvesicles, measuring 30-100 nm in diameter. They are widely distributed in body fluids, including blood, bile, urine and saliva. Cancer-derived exosomes carry a wide variety of DNA, RNA, proteins and lipids, and may serve as novel biomarkers in cancer.
Aim:
To summarize the performance of exosomal biomarkers in cancer diagnosis and prognosis.
Methods:
Relevant publications in the literature were identified by search of the "PubMed" database up to September 11, 2018. The quality of the included studies was assessed by QUADAS-2 and REMARK. For assessment of diagnostic biomarkers, 47 biomarkers and 2240 patients from 30 studies were included.
Results:
Our results suggested that these exosomal biomarkers had excellent diagnostic ability in various types of cancer, with good sensitivity and specificity. For assessment of prognostic markers, 50 biomarkers and 4797 patients from 42 studies were included. We observed that exosomal biomarkers had prognostic values in overall survival, disease-free survival and recurrence-free survival.
Conclusion:
Exosomes can function as potential biomarkers in cancer diagnosis and prognosis.
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